


changed

by enabler (svartalfheimr), TheAceApples



Series: Alpha-17 + Reconditioning = Captain Rex [5]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Clone Trooper Reconditioning (Star Wars), GFY, Identity Issues, M/M, RIP Darth Maul's Spider Legs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 12:27:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29471670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/svartalfheimr/pseuds/enabler, https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAceApples/pseuds/TheAceApples
Summary: The captain is—befuddled, by his legs.
Relationships: Alpha-17/Darth Maul, Darth Maul/CT-7567 | Rex
Series: Alpha-17 + Reconditioning = Captain Rex [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2164716
Kudos: 19
Collections: Rexconditioned





	changed

**Author's Note:**

  * For [svartalfheimr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/svartalfheimr/gifts).
  * Inspired by [while the light fails](https://archiveofourown.org/works/29436078) by [svartalfheimr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/svartalfheimr/pseuds/svartalfheimr). 



> ~~anonymous~~ svartalfheimr asked: Hello 🥸 for the rexconditioned au: "I'm afraid to forget your name."

The captain is—befuddled, by his legs.

Maul notices it, eventually; after the euphoria of finally having found his One again, he notices it.

He is never unaware of Maul's presence, yet every time the captain turns to face him, it is as if, somehow, he is struck all over again by the difference. Maul is still taller than him but only just. His legs are still metal but in a more familiar shape. One of the first things One, and Rex, had said to him after finally finding himself was that he looks good, healthier.

Yet the legs seem to give him trouble.

Even his name for Maul, from their very first meeting, _spider,_ has gained a wistful quality when One or Rex says it. Wistful, like his recollections of his _gevod,_ back at the start of things.

Maul finds himself wondering if this single change is insurmountable, that it continues to catch his captain off-guard; his horns are not so overgrown and his skin is no longer veined with Darkness and he has regained as much fat as he believes he ever will, and these changes are ones of which One approves.

But he is his spider—a spider without its legs.

He cradles One-and-Rex close to his chest and contemplates for hours at a time.

During one such stretch, while calloused brown fingers trace the markings across his shoulders, the captain speaks. "I'm afraid to forget your name," _Rex_ says, mild as he admits to the fear. This is one way for Maul to tell them apart, when even holding them tightly to his body gives no indication.

It serves as a needed reminder that Maul is not the only one changed, in strange ways both visible and not.

(The hairs dusted across his captain's chest and down his belly are golden, after all.)

Maul turns the confession over in his mind for many minutes before replying. "If you are stolen from me again, I will take you back," he proposes. "And if they make you forget me again, then I will remind you. I am no longer a creature of fear and pain; I will remind you of us both."

He feels the curve of the captain's mouth against his throat, and vividly remembers the first instance of such.

"Good, I'm glad. Still my spider, though."

"Yes," Maul agrees into the darkness and silence. "I am still yours."


End file.
